At the cusp of change: Agenda Setting in Global Health Law by Emerging Economies

Global health law as a field has been deeply unequal, reflecting colonial histories, geopolitics, and power plays. The current turmoil and fundamental shifts occurring in international politics has uncertain outcomes for global public health. Looking at the field from the prism of recent and ongoing global health negotiations serves to illustrate the unpredictability of the direction the governance of global health can take. Recent global health law reforms in the aftermath of COVID-19 have aimed to create obligations governing health emergencies. While much of the discussions have unfolded in the realm of health emergencies, many of the resulting legal obligations will have a normative impact on the field. Some of these new obligations are considerably caveated and weakened compared to what was originally articulated by some member states of the World Health Organization (WHO).